Multiblade snowplow vehicle

ABSTRACT

A method of clearing loose material such as snow is provided employing a snowplow vehicle whereon is attached a front mounted plow blade, a rear mounted plow blade, controlling means for said blades, activating means for said blades, a movable support frame means affixing said rear blade to said activating means. The material clearing method comprises pulling said loose material away from an obstacle thereby forming a mound, repositioning said vehicle behind said mound and completing said clearing operation by pushing,using said front mounted plow blade.

0 United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,800,447

Harve A r. 2 1974 y P [54] MULTIBLADE SNOWPLOW VEHICLE 2,571,113 10/1951 Crosby 37/12 x [76] Inventor: Edgar D. Harvey, 25 Glenwood St, 3,044,196 7/1962 Kinney 37/41 Springfield, Mass. 011 19 FOREIGN-PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,029,542 3/1953 France 117/42 R [22] 1971 558,812 1 1944 Great Britain 37/42 R [21] Appl. No.: 197,015 522,305 3/1956 Canada 37/42 R 682,594 3/1964 Canada 37/D1G. 3

[52] U.S. Cl 37/41, 37/50, 1l7722//28706l, Primary Examiner koben E. pulfrey 51 1111.01 E0lh 5/00 Field of '5 5 H7 S Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lowe, King & Prlce 117/12; 172/500, 666, 734, 663, 742, 743, 800-809 ABSTRACT [56] References Cited A method of clearing loose material such as snow is UNITED STATES PATENTS ptrtovikclleg egnplczying at SCIiIOVIVPIOZII gehicle whereont a ac e a ron moune pow a e,arear moune low blade, controlling means for said blades, activat- 2365597 12/1944 Roth, 37/42 R mg means for said blades, a movable support frame 2,565,337 8/1951 37/42 R X means affixmg said rear blade to sald actwatmg 2,569,053 9/1 51 Healy l 37/42 R means. The material clearing method comprises pull- 2,733,525 2/1956 McMahon... 172/805 ing said loose material away from an obstacle thereby 3 8/1965 Bartel t 2/8 forming a mound, repositioning said vehicle behind McGee v aid mound and completing aid clearing peration g; c lf g ax pushing,using said front mounted plow blade. 1 or 4 2,348,796 5/1944 Ferwerda et al 37/117.5 X 1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PATENIEBAPR 21914 I 3.800.447

Sum 10f 2 PATENTEB APR 2 I974 SHEEI 2 0f 2 CONTROL MEANS 1 MULTIBLADE SNOWPLOW VEHICLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The traffic congestion caused by heavy snow storms is all too familiar to motorists and even more familiar, almost painfully so, to those public and private officials charged with the duty of efficiently moving this fallen snow and ice from streets, parking lots and accessways. This clearing must be accomplished rapidly and performed without aggravating the congestion problem further, and particularly must be performed without blocking streets with the snow moving equipment being used.

The problem is enlarged by the anomaly of tightened public budgets which do not allocate funds for purchasing new snow moving equipment, but which do provide sufficient funding for additional streets and public parking lots that in turn must be cleared after a snowfall. The problem is made still more onerous by an ever increasing number of motor vehicles using these public and private facilities.

Private snow clearing firms feel the same budgetary pinch as do public concerns due to rising costs of labor, equipment replacement and maintenance.

Forerunner snow clearing equipment, such as the snowplow vehicle in Boydstun US. Pat. No. 1,830,259, will alleviate the above problem somewhat but are expensive since an entire unit must be purchased.

Improvements in the plow structure per se, such as in Renahan 3,275,313, have contributed to the efficiency of ice removing operations and other special problems, but others have not, insofar as I am aware, attempted to provide a simple structure adapted to everyday vehicles and adapted to alleviate the above-mentioned congestion problem.

This invention, therefore, concerns an efficient method of clearing loose material which has the advantages of making use of specially modified everyday vehicles and being amenable to many different uses, such as snow and ice clearing. By requiring only minor alteration of existing equipment, this invention has the advantage of costing much less than comparable specially manufactured units for this function alone, and yearround use of the basic vehicle, such as a pickup truck, may be obtained.

Another object of this invention may be simply stated as providing a method of efficiencly removing snow from an obstructed area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method of clearing loose material, such as snow, from an obstructed area by employing a motor vehicle comprising a frontmounted plow blade and a rear-mounted plow blade. The blades are attached to said vehicle by adjustable frame support members and there is provided an actuating means which is controlled from within said vehicle. The actuating means of the rear blade comprises a transverse bar member, a fluid cylinder affixed to said vehicle and attaching to said bar member by means of a crank member that allows substantially 90 pivoting movement to position the blade completely within the confines of the vehicle, such as above the bed of the pickup truck. The rear-mounted blade preferably has a thin lower edge with box frame support shoes only at the end to allow better penetration to ice covered snow or other hard-pan like material.

It will be understood that the actuating movement of both the front and rear blades is accomplished by operating conventional controls from inside the vehicle, and since these controls and the associated hydraulic systems and power sources that operate the cylinders are well known in the art, there is only a broad showing in the drawings and only a broad, general description is required, as will be seen later herein.

The method of clearing loose material comprises maneuvering the vehicle into a position facingaway from the obstacle, lowering said rear mounted blade into a position above the surface to be cleared, backing said vehicle towards said obstacle until said rear blade contacts the same, lowering said rear blade into contact with the surface to be cleared, pulling said material away from said obstacle thereby forming a mound behind said vehicle, and a cleared area at least as long as the overall snowplow vehicle, raising said rear blade, repositioning said vehicle behind said mound in the cleared area, and completing said clearing operation by pushing the material in the mound with said frontmounted blade.

The pulling operation of this method is an important feature because it allows material to be cleared from an area bounded by an obstacle, such as the front of a building or a wall, that would otherwise make an operation accomplished solely by pushing impractical or impossible. Also, at the front end of a driveway where the traveled portion of the street and the traffic is the obstacle, the vehicle of the invention saves traffic congestion since the rear blade can be dropped right at the driveway entrance after the vehicle has safely pulled completely into said driveway in the normal manner.

The gauging operation indicates another important feature of this invention. When material situated near an upstanding wall is to be cleared or graded, the rear blade is lowered so that it is above the material to be cleared and extended substantially straight out from the rear of the vehicle. In this partially lowered position, the vehicle is eased back gently and carefully until the rear of the blade is positioned contiguous with the wall before the clearing or grading is begun. In this manner it is assured that all of the material is cleared and at the same time the wall is not subjected to possible damage due to misjudgement of the distance.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION Another objective of this invention is to provide a method whereby existing equipment with a frontmounted plow blade can be easily and inexpensively converted to the multiblade snowplow vehicle embodied by this invention.

Another objective of this invention is to provide greater ease of operation of snowplowing equipment thereby allowing generally unskilled and relatively inexperienced drivers to efficiently operate the same.

Still another objective of this invention is to increase the versatility of plowing equipment by providing a narrow thickness scraping member on the lower edge of a flat plow blade thereby adapting said blade to clearing operations wherein the material to be cleared has a hard surface, such as ice.

Still another objective of this invention is to provide greater safety in plowing loose material situated near vertical obstacles by allowing the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle to be gauged accurately.

Another object of this invention is to allow side streets or accessways to be completely cleared of snow without requiring the snowplow to block traffic on a cross street as it positions itself.

Still another object of this invention is to provide means for storing said rear-mounted blade above the rear of said vehicle when said blade is not in use.

Still other objects and advantages of this invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein I have shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by me of carrying out my invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of the rear-mounted plow blade attached to the motor vehicle, in this case a pickup truck, showing the manner of lowering said blade;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of said motor vehicle showing two positions of said rear blade and with the blade partially cut away;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the start of the pulling operation and the gauging operation prior to that in dashed line outline, whereby the loose material contiguous to an obstruction is efficiently removed;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view partially cut away showing the rear plow blade assembly;

FIG. 5 is'a cross-sectional view of the rear blade as seen along line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows the position of the vehicle and the plow blades with respect to the obstacle after completing the pulling operation and clearing a space at least as long as the overall vehicle;

FIG. 7 shows the motor vehicle and the plow blades after repositioning said vehicle behind the mound of loose material in anticipation of the pushing operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT For convenience, the preferred embodiment will be described in two distinct sections. The first section will be a detailed description of the apparatus required by the clearing method. This method will then be described in detail. However, each section will contain general cross references for the sake of clearer understanding.

With reference to FIGS. 1-5, the apparatus may broadly be described as a multiblade snowplow vehicle V having a conventional chassis and comprising a front-mounted plow blade 10 extending forwardly of said vehicle, a rear-mounted plow blade assembly, generally designated by the reference numeral 11, disposed rearwardly of and facing said vehicle. The blade assembly 11 includes side frame assemblies 12, actuating hydraulic cylinder means 13, and associated hydraulic control means 13a (see FIG. 4). The vehicle V is shown in this preferred embodiment as a pickup truck, with a conventional frame or chassis 14, however any other suitable vehicle, such as a tractor or utilityautomobile, can be used.

With reference to FIG. 4, a transverse frame member 20 is rigidly affixed in the rearward portion of the frame 14 and supports a fluid cylinder 21, which has its piston rod extending in the rearward driection as shown. An actuating bar 22 is affixed for pivotal movement to said vehicle frame 14 by means of bearing supports 23. The piston rod of the fluid cylinder 21 is operatively connected to the bar 22 by a crank member 24 which moves in an arc in a vertical plane when said fluid cylinder 21 is activated. The transverse member 20 and bearing supports 23 can be welded or otherwise suitably attached to the frame 14.

The rear plow assembly 11 with side frame assemblies l2, triangular shaped and comprising upper support arms 30 and lower support arms 31, attaches to the activating means 13 by means of tie plates 40 which are affixed to the outer ends of actuating bar 22 for pivotal movement therewith. The bar is further supported by transverse bracing member 25, also fixed to the frame 14 by welding or otherwise. The lower support arm 31 on each side of the assembly 12 contains a plurality of adjusting apertures 32 through which locking devices 50 attach said support arms to said tie plates 40. The upper support arm 30 is rigidly affixed to said tie plate.

Rear blade 55 of the asembly 11 is attached to arms 30, 31 by means of end flanges 60 containing a plurality of apertures 61 whereby upper support arms 30 and lower support arms 31 are secured by means of locking devices 62. The blade 55 is essentially flat rather than curved so that the clearing operation can begin immediately adjacent an obstacle. The pitch angle of blade 55 may be further varied by altering the attachment between support arm 31 and flange 60 at said multiple apertures 61 adjacent the bottom. The pressure exerted by blade 55 is increased by reducing the area of blade 55 contacting the surface to be cleared. Thus, blade 55 comprises a narrow thickness scraping member or edge (FIG. 4) located on the lower edge of said blade. The greater pressure (force per unit area) is required when material, such as ice, needs to be cut through to reach the underlying surface or ground G that is to be exposed by the clearing operation. The blade is reinforced by box frame or U-shaped support shoes 71 at the ends and peripheral face molding 72. The molding 72 further protects blade 55 when contacting an obstacle, such as wall W, during the gauging operation as will be described.

With reference now to FIGS. 1-3, 6 and 7, the method embodied by this invention will now be described in detail. The prime notation of the reference numeral 11 has been adopted to differentiate the several plow assembly positions and base numbers have been added to the reference character V for the same purpose. The clearing is begun with the vehicle positioned in position V, in front of and facing away from obstacle W, with rear blade assembly 11 in travel position 11' (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Rear blade assembly 11 is then lowered but stopped above the loose material in gauging position 11'' (see FIG. 3) and the vehicle is backed or otherwise moved towards the obstacle until the blade 55 lightly contacts or is in juxtaposition with said obstacle in position V -(dotted line outline in FIG. 3). Obstacle W is shown as an impenetrable boundary or wall; however, it could be any type of boundary line, such as the intersection between a driveway and a street or even a side street and a main street. This gauging operation allows the clearing to begin immediately adjacent an obstacle W without endangering hitting the wall W or cars in the adjacent street and without making back and forth repetitions of the clearing operation necessary.

Once the vehicle is positioned correctly, the assembly is lowered into final working position 11 (full line showing in drawing) and the vehicle V is moved forward in a single forward motion to a position V of FIG. 6 wherein the ground G is cleared over a distance slightly greater than the length of said vehicle V. In other words, the material is thereby pulled behind the vehicle to form a mound M at a distance out from the wall W which is just greater than the length of vehicle V (FIG. 6). The blade assembly 11 is then returned to the travel position 11' over the back of the vehicle and within the longitudinal confines thereof, that is, between imaginary vertical planes passing through the rearmost and forwardmost points on the vehicle. This is done for ease of maneuvering and the vehicle V is backed to the position V, of FIG. 7 behind mound M by preferably backing directly over said mound M. F ront-mounted plow blade 10 is then lowered and used in the usual pushing operation to complete the clearing by pushing the material from behind and depositing said material on the side of the cleared area or in a remote pile, as desired.

From the above, it can be seen that many advantages accrue to the user of the teachings of this invention. The ground G can be efficiently cleared right up next to an abstacle W without ever turning the vehicle V around (FIGS. 6 and 7). The gauging operation (FIG. 3) allows the driver to ease into just the right position adjacent the wall W without having to be highly skilled or experienced and all of the material is assured of being removed on one pass. The blade 55 is constructed to penetrate ice and other hard material and may be angularly adjusted to allow efficient formation of the mound M depending on the depth thereof and other factors. The vehicle V may be equipped with four wheel drive or chains as may be necessary and should the mound M be too high to pass directly back over it, the driver may easily maneuver around the same to reach the cleared surface or ground G.

In this disclosure, there is shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, but, as aforementioned, it is to be understood that the invention is capable of use in various other combinations and environments and is capable of changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein.

I claim:

1. A multiblade snowplow vehicle comprising a chassis supported on wheels, a front mounted blade attached to said chassis, a rear blade attached to said chassis, said rear blade being essentially flat and substantially perpendicular to the path of travel of the vehicle to allow the clearing operation to begin immediately adjacent an obstacle, said rear blade also being essentially free of obstruction along the pulling face toward the vehicle, pivotal support frame means on said chassis for said rear blade to attach the same to the snowplow vehicle, horizontal pivot means on said chassis to mount said frame means, said frame means including side arm means positioned laterally outward of the vehicle to avoid interference during pivotal movement, said side arm means being of sufficient length to pivotally position said rear blade over the vehicle to be within the longitudinal confines thereof to allow ease of positioning said vehicle, an activating means for said frame means including a transverse actuating bar member, a fluid cylinder affixed to said motor vehicle, said actuating bar member connected to said cylinder means by means of a crank member, and control means positioned on the vehicle, said control means actuating said cylinder to lift and lower said rear blade through pivotal action, whereby said rear mounted blade may be activated and used separately from said front mounted blade, said support frame means being triangular shaped with at least two outwardly extending support arms, and adjustment means to allow alteration of the angle formed by said rear blade and the ground by varying the length of one of the arms of said triangular frame, said rear plow blade including essentially vertical flanges whereby said triangular frame is integrally attached to said blade, said flanges having a plurality of apertures to form said adjustment means to allow variation in the pitch angle between the blade and the surface to be cleared, said triangular support frame means being provided with a plurality of apertures in the lower arm of said triangular support member to further form said adjustment means and allow variation of said blade pitch angle. 

1. A multiblade snowplow vehicle comprising a chassis supported on wheels, a front mounted blade attached to said chassis, a rear blade attached to said chassis, said rear blade being essentially flat and substantially perpendicular to the path of travel of the vehicle to allow the clearing operation to begin immediately adjacent an obstacle, said rear blade also being essentially free of obstruction along the pulling face toward the vehicle, pivotal support frame means on said chassis for said rear blade to attach the same to the snowplow vehicle, horizontal pivot means on said chassis to mount said frame means, said frame means including side arm means positioned laterally outward of the vehicle to avoid interference during pivotal movement, said side arm means being of sufficient length to pivotally position said rear blade over the vehicle to be within the longitudinal confines thereof to allow ease of positioning said vehicle, an activating means for said frame means including a transverse actuating bar member, a fluid cylinder affixed to said motor vehicle, said actuating bar member connected to said cylinder means by means of a crank member, and control means positioned on the vehicle, said control means actuating said cylinder to lift and lower said rear blade through pivotal action, whereby said rear mounted blade may be activated and used separately from said front mounted blade, said support frame means being triangular shaped with at least two outwardly extending support arms, and adjustment means to allow alteration of the angle formed by said rear blade and the ground by varying the length of one of the arms of said triangular frame, said rear plow blade including essentially vertical flanges whereby said triangular frame is integrally attached to said blade, said flanges having a plurality of apertures to form said adjustment means to allow variation iN the pitch angle between the blade and the surface to be cleared, said triangular support frame means being provided with a plurality of apertures in the lower arm of said triangular support member to further form said adjustment means and allow variation of said blade pitch angle. 